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Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Reluctant Dectective

As vicar Alistair Ingram was giving the blessing over communion and taking a drink from the communion cup, he clutches his chest and falls to the ground in front of the congregation. Knowing that he has had issues with his heart, the members of the church believe he has had a heart attack.

When Faith Morgan attempts to revive the vicar, she notices some redness and swelling on his lips and a strange order coming from the wine stain on his chest. She will later find out from the Detective Inspector in charge, Ben Shorter, that he was poisoned.

Faith was about to decide whether to join Little Worthy, the name of the church, since receiving her ordination as a vicar before the death of Alistair Ingram. She had left the police force where she worked with Ben Shorter not only as a colleague but as a former boyfriend as well. Their relationship ended on a sore note, when Faith decided to pursue a high calling in her life.

In the latest Faith Morgan Mystery, The Reluctant Detective by Martha Ockley, the reader will be taken along the mysterious investigation into the murder of Alistair Ingram. Working together as the newest member of the congregation, Faith and Ben will slowly uncover events that will leave the reader completely horrified.

I received The Reluctant Detective compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and for those of you that love church murder mysteries, than this one is a must for you. You will be left wondering just who did it as you uncover clues that seem to point one way but lead to a dead end. This one rates a 4.5 out of 5 stars and is well on it's way to a great series with Faith Morgan. She is a likeable character who isn't afraid of her faith and in being able to listen to the voice of God and follow.

Here's even more great information about this book, the author and even where to get a first chapter glimpse!!

Martha Ockley is the pen-name of Rebecca Jenkins. She read history at Oxford University, and spent several years working alongside her father, the Rt. Revd. David Jenkins (Bishop of Durham 1984-94) during the turbulence of the 1980s. She lives in Teesdale in the North East of England where the landscape and history provide the inspiration for her Regency detective, F R Jarrett. Since September 2009 she has been Royal Literary Fund Fellow and Writer in Residence at York St John University. She is a full-time author, writing both fiction and non-fiction. (She should not be confused with a Canadian actor and singer, also called Rebecca Jenkins.)

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Reluctant Detective sees Faith Morgan arriving back in the region of her birth - Winchester in Hampshire. Recently ordained, she had been working as a curate in an Anglican inner-city church. Within an hour of her arrival at Little Worthy, she witnesses the sudden shocking death of a fellow priest during a communion service at St James's. He had been poisoned with a pesticide mixed with the communion wine. The senior police officer who arrives at the scene turns out to be Detective Inspector Ben Shorter, Faith's ex long-term boyfriend.

She is urged by the Bishop to stay on to look after the parish of Little Worthy. As she meets her parishioners she learns some surprising facts about her apparently well loved predecessor, and starts to suspect a motive for his death. And it is she who finally identifies the murderer.

The story gets off to a dramatic start with the previous vicar collapsing as soon as he drank the communion cup, and it holds the interest throughout. There is some romantic interest too. Inspector Ben Shorter starts by sneeringly telling his sergeant, "Ms Morgan is a vicar. One of the ordained," Ben emphasized the word. “She's a card-carrying professional at the touchy-feely stuff.” But he soon starts to feel differently about her again, although she is well aware that he "didn't understand the reality she experienced through her faith. He didn't even recognize its existence. That was the gulf between them." Her own beliefs and doubts are convincingly described, for even she can't help wondering, "What if there is no truth to it?" But for her, as for Pascal before her, it was a gamble worth taking.

Product Review Policy

I am an Christian independent book/product reviewer who will be more than happy to review any products or books for you as long as they are faith, family or Christian based. I've been reviewing books, DVD's CD's, and products for almost 6 years now and enjoy the opportunity to provide quality honest reviews for my readers.

I love all genres of books and have refused to pick just specific categories as I have found that I would have missed out on some great products by doing that. The only books I won't review are books outside the Christian market, for my own personal religious beliefs.

I would also be more than happy to post the review on one consumer site such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Christianbooks.com, etc. I am not paid for my reviews and receive the products compliments of the companies that wish me to review their products. This is disclosed within the review.

If you would like to have me review your products or books, please contact me via my email address in my profile.

My rating system is as follows with every novel beginning with 5 stars, deductions of a full star with each category

- 1 Contains sexually explicit content or descriptions.

-1 Contains profanity.

-1 labeled as a Christian novel and clearly isn't.

-1 contains witchcraft, sorcery, or new age content. This does not apply to spiritual warfare novels from a Christian perspective.

-1 Content is poor-written or has so many characters the reader is helplessly lost or ideas that confuse the reader to the point they simply want to throw the book away.

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